Saturday, January 31, 2009

Chiang Mai is all about elephants. They are highlyrevered and a source of pride. There is quite a lotof controversy over they fact that since they areno longer needed in the obsolete logging industry,their livelihood has turned to entertaining -- it'snot the best of all possible worlds, but there seemsa sincere effort to provide many with a good andhealthy place to live as well as a means of self-support.Ok, so teaching an elephant to paint for tourists maybe a bit of a stretch, but it could be a LOT worse. Andthis guy has some talent.They seem affectionate and it's hard not to anthropomorphizethat that is really a smile when their mouth corners turn upwards.Each elephant gets his own lifelong mahout, who inturn is truly proud of his charge. I've never seena female mahout . hmmmmm.?Here is a very female and very pregnant female.Gestation is some 22 months. Yes, the babies are cute!They had better be after 22 months.

After ice cream, it was the Sunday Street marketwhich we prefer to the Night Bazaar because it isattended by more locals, the vendors are lessaggressive and food shops seem fresher.Here a farang practices bargaining for a Hmongstitchery piece that caught her fancy. Later at our regular Sunday afternoon Jazz inthe Park, Keith let it be known that today wasour anniversary for which we got a spontaneousrendition of "Happy Birthday" It was great fun!Then we went out for ice cream with a group ofCanadian visitors from our condo.This was the house. We spent an hour lounging onthe deck in fascinating conversation about his life,and future plans. Keith promised to help him advertise to other farang who would be staying longer and wanting to be near nature.We met a man who had a house to rent. He was ateacher of English, a collector of antiques, a player oftennis, and a singer of karoke. Quite a guy!Walking in the neighborhood south of Wat U Mong, thereare no shortages of interesting sights. This hedge (andgarage covering) was vibrantly blooming.

Friday, January 23, 2009

One of these wires is our internet connection. Thislittle office runs our unlimited high speed internet system ata charge of 300 baht per month. (about $8.50)Across town for a 60 baht song teaw ride, we canenjoy these great musicians on Sunday eveningsduring Jan. and Feb. They do a pretty good renditionof "Ain't Misbehavin'"Finally got a good light angle to get this of the entranceto Chomdoi Condo (Interior view at this link) I'vealready posted the sunrises. Despite the concretenature, we have been here nearly 6 weeks now and findit just too convenient to move -- or NOT move asthecasemaybe.Try not to look too closely at the green yolks and thetransparently brown whites, it TASTES really good.These are the pink shelled fermented (30 days) eggs.The ginger and shallots are an added treat.

Something kind of cute about Purple and White ascolors of the university. The street vendors of floraland stuffed animals were making a fortune.The ever-present presence of this essential andsometime elegant transportation was particularlyfun to watch this day. Often there were hugefloral bouquets clasped in the arms of the passenger.You just had to smile! (tricky to photograph tho)Poor photograph, but important to Thai people. ThePrincess had come to hand out diplomas to thegraduates. That's her beige car in the center.This was only one of hundreds of proud photographsbeing taken at Chaing Mai University this week.Wow! Fluttering flags, pretty girls, gorgeous flowers --what a happy day for the eyes!

Well, not ALL the signage is Thai. And I guess thereIS an attempt to woo the tourist. Here I am allwooed.As we walked the lake edge on this morning afterour new president is official, these two young,monks-in-training have come to watch the localfishermen.This lovely carving fragment, sitting among many inthe shadow of a venerable old tree, near the center of thefriendly wat previously mentioned, echos the theme thereabouts -- the fish of Lake Phayao.Our lunch! the local lake fish, stuffed with wads oflemon grass, covered with coarse salt and bar-b-quedover a roadside grill. Yum!

We made some kind of promise to ourselves to explorea few of the more rural/remote corners of northernThailand as potential retirement settlements. However wehave begun to realize the merits of city living, possiblybecause we do "rural/remote" in our other life in California.Regardless, we take a 3 hour bus trip over a mountain and arriveat Phayao for a looksee.Phayao has much to commend. Here they have chosenan especially good name to bestow upon this finesoi of teak houses and a friendly wat.To all my Susan friends: Gordon, Kohl, Kosis, Rogers, Hill,and the list goes on . . . If you'd like a street named afteryou, this is a good one.The pride of the district is the fresh water lake, ratherlarge, full of fish (also rather large) and water hyacinthsfrom which the local handicraft product is made. Thereis also a partially submerged temple ruin somedistance from the shore. You can take a leakyboat out to it. We didn't do that.There were plenty of good sitting rocks along theshore among the shade trees.Playing with the camera sighting through a hole in thecement wall, you get an idea of the native flora.Phayao is a town where tourism is only a distant concern.Most of the signage is completely in Thai. Wekind of like that ---- until we need to communicate.There was a very decent hotel just a block fromthe bus station. The hotel was where we would watchthe inaugural address of President Obama.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Here is an ingenious use of recyclable bottles. It ratherlooks like it has been here a while. Good on 'em!We'd never have been able to see this kind of thingon foot. Keith's sciatic nerve had been acting up so wehesitated to rent the bikes, but it turned out to not bea problem for his leg and a big help in getting to outlyingareas which we are so interested in doing. We need todo it in Chiang Mai as well.one of the bridges over Mae Wang was a "no automobiles"bridge which made it nice for us timid bicyclists.Crossing a bridge on our bikes rented from theguesthouse, we came across this little scene wherethe farmer was giving his livestock either a breakor a bath (or both) It was a cool day, but perhapsthey had been working hard.These midget dragons were so cute, they werealmost cuddly.Just a fun little arrangement somebody tookthe trouble to do. Even corrugatedgalvanized walls benefit from a little greenery.

If you like curry, this would be heaven.Ah, lemon grass! I wonder if it would grow in Mad River.And there are stacks and stacks of eggs. There arealmost always brown. Later we learn about pink(fermented 30 days) and white (salted 30 days)These guys fit cozily in their little steamer boxes.I've been noticing this arrangement at several othertowns in Thailand this trip. I'm not sure how theyare prepared or how they taste. They seem popular tho.Realizing I hadn't taken my requisite "fish marketphoto" in Thailand yet. It all started in 1999 in Tokyo.Then of course: Bergen, Norway, New York, San Francisco,Dubai --all those fishy places. Here we are eyeingthe squid (pla mouk) At least they don't "eye" back.Maybe we can find a restaurant that will serve itlater that evening -- stay tuned.

A section of the old town has a street with thesearchitectural prizes -- a mix of old Lanna and Chinese.A REALLY yummy Thai restaurant -- also calledRiverside. I don't think they share anything withthe guest house other than the name and a goodreputation -- earned and deserved. I was enjoyingprobably the most tasty mushroom omelet in the world:just FULL of my favorite Thai flavors -- lemon grass, lime leaves and basil!A view of Riverside Guest House from across theriver. You can't miss the wildly blooming bougainvillea.The view from our veranda of the river overthe wildly blooming bougainvillea. The weatherwas lowest in a decade. Keith had to buy a shirtwith sleeves and we needed that extra blanket.Was glad I had phoned ahead for a room at thispopular guesthouse. It turned out to be ratherfull and busy. We met some very interestingfolks. Fellow travelers do tend to have interestingexperiences.

The best mornings begin around a Skype conversationwith our 3.5 year old granddaughter. She usually showsus her guinea pigs and her latest drawings.What has come to be our favorite lunch spot. "Thenoodle shop in the soi" He cooks, she washes dishes andthey seem to have done alright for themselves. Witnessthe rather nice (by our standards) little house.With a half dozen tables and a tasty product, they areseldom without customers. But at less than a dollarper serving, one wonders how they do it.A Sunday afternoon Jazz in the Park led to thisencore Christmas program across town. Many ofthe Payup University Jazz Band members had toleave early for their commitment with this event.We went also, catching the last of the mass at SacredHeart Catholic Church. I chose the harp picturesfor our Bridgeville friends and devoted harpists, Lynneand MichaelAt the zoo, the ever graceful giraffes are my favorite. Probablybecause they are Anya's all-time, very favorite animal.We had been telling our granddaughter, Anya thatwe would be going to the zoo soon. Chaing Mai hasa pretty nice zoo (as zoo's go) For more photos, seeour Picasa web page. I paid 10 baht for some carrotsand sweet potatoes which quite interested this beastie.I am able to get up enough nerve to approach anoptical shop for an exam and new glasses. It wasa very pleasant and easy experience and of coursethe best part was the price. The exam, new frameswith progressive and chromatic lenses for under$140US. The real treat was that the prescriptionhad changed enough since my last pair 7 years agothat I can now see distances a great deal better.